This program features a prologue read by the author. The bizarre and captivating story of the most important person you've never heard of. The world we live in today, where everything is tracked by corporations and governments, originates with one manic, elusive, utterly unique man—as prone to bullying as he was to fits of surpassing generosity and surprising genius. His name was Hank Asher, and his life was a strange and spectacular show that changed the course of the future. In The Hank Show, critically acclaimed author and journalist McKenzie Funk relates Asher's stranger-than-fiction story—he careened from drug-running pilot to alleged CIA asset, only to be reborn as the pioneering computer programmer known as the father of data fusion. He was the multimillionaire whose creations now power a new reality where your every move is tracked by police departments, intelligence agencies, political parties, and financial firms alike. But his success was not without setbacks. He truly lived nine lives, on top of the world one minute, only to be forced out of the companies he founded and blamed for data breaches resulting in major lawsuits and market chaos. In the vein of the blockbuster movie Catch Me if You Can, this spellbinding work of narrative nonfiction propels you forward on a forty year journey of intrigue and innovation, from Colombia to the White House and from Silicon Valley to the 2016 Trump campaign, focusing a lens on the dark side of American business and its impact on the everyday fabric of our modern lives. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
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This is the story of a half-mad master of data, a crazed genius who figured out early on how to sneak into the lives of others on a grand scale. Hank Asher could be the hero of a science fiction fantasy. But in a world in which everything can be traded for money, his methods were real, legal, and very profitable—and ultimately superseded by a corporate America whose cupidity is even more unrestrained than he was. Funk’s research is impressive, the story fascinating and dreadful.
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Tracy Kidder, author of Rough Sleepers and The Soul of a New Machine